•

14

9, 1905

rh ;IT
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

Our Man At The White House:
`Court Jew' Or Trusted Advisor?

Under Ronald Reagan, the
holder of the Jewish
liaison's job has no political
clout, no direct access to
the President, no top level
advisory functions, no office
in the White House and
little prestige in the
community at large. Is the
post slated for elimination?

BY SHERWOOD D, KOHN
8pecial to The Jewish News

since Franklin Delano Roosevelt's
administration, there has always bob
someone m the
White House, officially or
y/ who served as a liaison
unofficiall
between the President and Jewish come

munity,
The perm who has held that job has
not always been effective, and recently in•
skims have heard nunblinp that Marshal
0 the " garret liaison, is leaving his
and that the p sition may be am.
reetn,"
ed

wok am Orthodox Jew, **yew*
• i Now Yost sands km protestor
motive
w _ w to the attention of die 400011
workins at the ogo•
Foundstion in Wash.

tido
lot Mb
York Jewish
tole; "You gel eugesslugy

Piz

community's views to the President if
you're not sensitive to the community,
And you can't be taken seriously within
the Administration unless you're part of it,"
In the best of times, the person who
acted as liaison to the Jews was a trusted
friend of and advisor to the President,
someone who had fought in the political
wars with him and enjoyed ready access

to the White Houle,
Until Ronald Reagan became president,
the job was unofficial, and its relations
with the Jewish community largely ad hoc,
With the advent of the Reagan White
House and Its more rigid
command strut
tun, the Jewish liaison position
became
more sharply defined, its duties more
clearly circumscribed,
The job, which now
the title of
/*with Liaison, in the bears
Office of Public
Liaison, Is designed not only
to carry the
Continued on Pap 18

Above Right;
Marshall Bremer, the current
White House Matson to the
Jewish community, not only
had little influence on
President Reagan's decilik'n
to visit the Bitburg osmeterY,
he was unable to 401wey) at
an early stags In the
dscizion.nWing process, the
depth o Amsrlian
unluippinso over the trip,